Lords and Ladies of Pinghe

Yesterday I was happy to get an unexpected letter from Emily Schmidt from Drew! I didn't even know she was reading my blog and I got a letter out of the blue! *waves* Hi Emily! She sent me some pictures from my last few days in the US when I went with her and other friends to Cori's cabin in Maine. I immediately hung them up in my cubicle. They are perfect because now I can look at my friends AND nature while at work.

Last night I finished my example shield/heraldry/crest. Here it is:
So the fox represents cunning and wit. I have him walking away from a tree in spring and towards a tree in autumn because I believe the spring of my life is ending and I am walking towards the autumn and living in the summer. Or some such symbolism. The flowers mean hope and joy, the ivy means everlasting friendship. I put them together because I think hope and joy comes from friendship. The phoenix is rebirth, the quill is academic focus, the two blue teardrops are for two sadnesses I've had in my life, but the drop of gold is for hope of a good future. The squirrel means I love the woods. :-) What do you think?

I've had a mix of super interested and totally apathetic students with the medieval stuff. I suppose that's the best I could ask for. I talked to one class today about doing other medieval stuff: making clothes or food and learning to sword fight, etc. They seemed to respond well. They suggested making a video instead of doing a live performance. I thought that was a good idea.

Today I got some fun reactions when I talked about different jobs in medieval times. When I talked about being a jester, I put on a jester hat I bought at Carrefour and juggled for them. Some students laughed, some gasped. For one class I left the hat on for the whole class and jingled my hat at them when they weren't paying attention. I tried to teach one brave student in each class the juggling basics.

Last night I finally went back to practice taichi. The man who was teaching me scolded me for not practicing everyday after I had some trouble remembering parts of the form. Charlotte expressed interest in joining me. Hopefully she'll be able to come tomorrow.

Today I wrote up the writing midterm for grade ten. Writing tests is so weird for me. I still don't feel like a teacher, even after being here for two months.

Today I spilled my entire bowl of soup on my pants. NOT COOL. Luckily I live on campus so once I finished eating I went back and changed into another pair of jeans.

Anyway, I need to find some jousting videos online for classes later this week. This afternoon I am doing pubsongs in class. Wish me luck and participating students!

Fare thee well,
Lady Stephanie